TARIFF WARS.
And the unrest apparent in purely political matters is equally noticeable in international commerce and finance. Everyone is on the defensive. Among the Central European States a tariff war goes on to an extent which would be almost amusing if it were not for the fact that it endangers the prosperity as well as the good will of all parties concerned in the strife, for I am not talking of ordinary healthy competition, but of something very different. Nor is it possible in this connexion to ignore the fact that even the United States, which at the moment is the strongest Power both financially and politically, is afflicted with this same spirit of " war- fare." For to exact on the one hand the fullest measure of the bond in the matter of European debts and on the other hand to bar—by very high tariffs—those countries from redeeming those debts in goods and services is strongly reminiscent of the days when those in bondage were required to deliver the full toll of bricks though the necessary straw was denied.
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